After tax cut push in Hialeah, President Trump switches focus to Mar-a-Lago summit

Mandel Ngan/Getty Images

President Donald Trump is greeted by U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, and U.S Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., after Trump arrived at Miami International Airport in Miami on April 16, 2018. Trump later referred to Rubio as a 'great friend.'

President Donald Trump is greeted by U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, and U.S Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., after Trump arrived at Miami International Airport in Miami on April 16, 2018. Trump later referred to Rubio as a 'great friend.' (Mandel Ngan/Getty Images)

President Donald Trump turned his attention to taxes at a business roundtable in Hialeah on Monday, marking the beginning of a weeklong visit to South Florida.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, he’ll switch his focus to foreign affairs, hosting Japanese leader Shinzo Abe and his wife at his Mar-a-Lago estate and private club in Palm Beach.

During the roundtable with business leaders, Trump praised U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, took a shot at his Democratic colleague Sen. Bill Nelson and praised the military’s response to an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria.

A day before the deadline to file federal income taxes, Trump said his tax cut package will put money into the hands of working families and spur hiring.

“This country is starting to rock with our businesses coming back in,” Trump said. “It's starting to really rock.”

President Donald Trump has owned the Mar-a-Lago estate and private club since the 1980s. During his presidency, he has spent many weekends in South Florida during the social season, which typically ends around Easter. He also hosted the president of China in 2017 and the Japanese prime minister in 2017 and 2018.

Trump thanked Rubio and called him “a great friend.” The two traded barbs during the Republican presidential primaries in 2016, and Trump frequently referred to Rubio as “Little Marco.”

Trump then took aim at Nelson, saying he was hostile toward the tax cut package. Gov. Rick Scott — a Trump ally — is vying to unseat Nelson in the midterm elections.

Trump said “every single one” of the more than 100 missiles launched early Saturday morning against Syria hit its target.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Labor Secretary Alex Acosta attended the business summit. Trump praised them while offering veiled criticism of other Cabinet appointees by saying “not all my choices were good.”